Our oceans. Our Fate. Our choice.
Ready to get her hands back into real science and earth observation, worldrenowned ocean engineer, Dr. Kate Moran, joined Neptune Canada as Director
in 2011, after two years in the White House Office of Science and Technology
Policy in Washington, DC, advising the Obama administration on the oceans,
the Arctic and Global Warming. Dr. Moran’s research focuses on marine
geotechnics and its application to the study of paleoclimate, tectonics and
ocean floor stability. Moran has led several major oceanographic expeditions,
including the first drilling expedition to the Arctic Ocean in 2004.
Dr. Moran shares some difficult truths on climate change, our oceans and the
fate of humankind.
Can you explain why experts attribute climate change to
humans’ activity on earth?
The measurements on our planet clearly demonstrate the entire planet is
warming. As paleontological science shows, ice ages and warming trends have
come and gone, but these are not random events. The trends are a result of
slight changes in the earth’s orbit around the sun, affecting the way solar
energy hits the earth. The phenomenon is measurable and predictable. The
warming trend we are experiencing now is not due to the earth’s orbit. What
we are seeing is an extreme event resulting from carbon dioxide entering the
atmosphere at a pace eight times faster than ever before.

How is the warming trend affecting North America?
Many ways, but one of the most obvious is a large reduction in perennial
white sea ice in the Arctic Ocean. The ice acts as a thermostat for the planet,
reflecting sunlight particularly in the summer. Likely, summertime sea ice may
disappear entirely within the next 15 - 18 years. The ice is an important piece of
the climate system. Its loss may be a tipping point with far-reaching impacts.

Can you explain some of the impacts of the ice loss?
The oceans are taking over the Arctic ice’s job. As ice melts, sunlight going
into the oceans is accelerating. It is easily observed, and there is no question
it is occurring. Warmer water actually expands. This warm water expansion
combined with the entry of fresh water, formerly captured in glaciers, into
ocean waters is helping coastline levels rise by 3 millimetres/yr. Fifty percent
of the world’s population live within 50 miles of coastal areas. As coastlines
become waterlogged or submerged, how we live will have to change.

Talking Neptune Canada
Neptune Canada was designed by scientists for scientists to address some
of the key challenges and questions in the oceans. Traditionally, ocean
scientists have relied on infrequent ship cruises or space-based satellites to
carry out their research. Neptune Canada is the world’s first regional-scale
underwater observatory network plugged directly into the internet.
Research at the centre and data collection covers changes in deep water
temperatures, tsunami wave modeling, plate tectonics and ocean volcanoes,
marine life movement, acoustics and species, gas hydrate activity, and much
more. Located off the west coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, in
the Vancouver Island Technology Park, the network
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PH levels are also changing because the ocean has been absorbing 1/3 of the
carbon dioxide created through the burning of fossil fuels. Ocean life forms
rely on a certain environment. Small animals that grow shells and are an
integral part of the food web may not be able to survive. We are observing
some this already at scallop fisheries.

What can we do now?
Even if we changed everything we are doing right now, the warming trend is
locked in. We are left with three choices: we can mitigate, we can cope or we
can suffer.
Mitigation begins by accepting climate change and our responsibility for
causing it as truth. This is sometimes difficult. Even as scientists attempt
to alert the population, they are up against a very well-funded industry
campaign that trades truth for economic gain; data is wrong, misrepresented
and/or manipulated. Climate change is not something we want to be true, so
it is very easy to believe that which puts our mind at ease.
We need to turn things around and see things differently. We start when we
admit that yes, humans have caused this. Fortunately, humans have a unique
ability to think, respond and make change. Change will happen when the
costs of ignoring the situation and the catastrophic outcomes of extreme
weather, tsunamis, moving cities or loss of lives outweigh the economics of
complacency.
It is exciting - albeit scary - times. Our human ability is being challenged to
determine what the world can and will look like. We have the capacity, the
ingenuity and the unrelenting drive. Now we need to accept, move on and
get to it.

extends across the Juan de Fuca Plate, gathering live data from an array of
instruments deployed in a broad spectrum of undersea environments. Data is
transmitted via high-speed fibre optics from the sea floor to a data archival
system at the University of Victoria, providing live and archived data.
With continuous data, interactive laboratories and remotely operated
vehicles (ROVs) positioned in multiple sites spanning a full range of marine
environments, NEPTUNE lets researchers study processes previously beyond
the capabilities of traditional oceanography. Via the web, people can view
ocean floor views direct from Neptune’s underwater cameras while ocean
scientists can run deep-water experiment from labs and universities
anywhere in the world. www.neptunecanada.ca